Degradation and modification of stainless-steel surface using Cl2/Ar inductively coupled plasma

The investigations of stainless steel (SS) etching behavior in the Cl2/Ar inductively coupled plasma as well as the etched surface characteristics were carried out. It was found that an increase in Ar fraction in the Cl2/Ar plasma from 0 to 100% at fixed gas pressure, input power and bias power results in decreasing both etching (degradation) rate of the SS surface (41.3–1.5 nm/min) and mean SS surface roughness (84–20 nm). Plasma diagnostics by Langmuir probes and 0-dimensional plasma modeling provided the data on plasma parameters, steady-state densities and fluxes of active species on the etched surface. It was shown that the maximum changes in mean roughness as well as in both polar and dispersive components of free surface energy correspond to a maximum value of Cl atom flux/ion flux ratio. Also, the linear correlation between free surface energy and mean roughness was obtained.